Government agencies are continuing their efforts to rescue 41 workers who have been trapped in the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand for the past 15 days. The rescue operations began on November 12 after a landslide caused a portion of the under-construction tunnel on the Char Dham route to collapse. National and international experts are assisting in the rescue operations.
One of the major challenges in the rescue operation is retrieving the parts of the auger machine that got stuck during horizontal drilling inside the tunnel. A team from the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) was flown in from Hyderabad with a plasma cutter to remove the stuck parts. However, operational difficulties at the site forced them to switch to gas cutters.
The auger drilling had initially started on Wednesday but had to be halted due to a metallic object being encountered in front of the pipe. This obstacle has forced officials to consider alternative options, which could potentially delay the rescue operation by several days. Vertical drilling, considered the second best option, has also begun. After drilling 86 meters vertically, the crust of the tunnel will need to be broken to bring out the trapped workers.
According to Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), six plans are being executed to rescue the trapped workers. So far, the best option has been horizontal drilling, with 47 meters of drilling already completed. The trapped area measures about 8.5 meters in height and 2 kilometers in length, representing the built-up portion of the tunnel.
While the workers remain safe, they are being provided with cooked food and fresh fruits through a pipe at regular intervals. Communication with the workers is being facilitated through a modified communication system with wire connectivity developed by the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). The rescue operations are ongoing, with hopes of successfully freeing the trapped workers in the near future.
